Site Mobile Navigation

Rocket Fire From Gaza Shakes Cease-Fire With Israel

People surveyed the damage from an Israeli air strike in Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip on Monday.Credit
Hatem Moussa/Associated Press

JERUSALEM — The fragile six-month cease-fire between Israel and Gaza was shaken overnight Monday as militants from the Palestinian coastal enclave fired at least six rockets against southern Israel and the Israeli military responded with airstrikes against what it said were weapons storage facilities and a rocket launch site in the southern Gaza Strip.

The rockets landed in open areas, causing no damage or injury, according to a police spokesman, and there were no reports of injuries in Gaza. The military said two of the rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.

The clash, which began late Sunday and broke several weeks of relative calm along the Israel-Gaza border, may have been set off by an internal dispute in Gaza between Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls the coastal territory, and the extremist Islamic Jihad group, one of whose members was killed when the Hamas police came to arrest him. There was no immediate indication that it would spiral into a broader confrontation with Israel.

The Islamic Jihad militant who was killed, Raed Jundiyeh, was wanted by Hamas in connection with the kidnapping of a Gaza resident. He was also apparently wanted by Israel for his role in rocket attacks. Mr. Jundiyeh was shot in the head on Saturday after he apparently resisted arrest and he died on Sunday. Islamic Jihad militants then blamed Hamas militants for causing more tension at the funeral, raising the possibility that the rocket attacks against Israel were meant as some kind of payback.

Hamas has worked to preserve the cease-fire with Israel, despite some sporadic rocket fire over the last few months and a number of Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli fire along the borders. By Monday, it appeared that the rocket fire may have been a local initiative by friends of Mr. Jundiyeh. Islamic Jihad said that it remained formally committed to the cease-fire with Israel.

One of the sites targeted by the Israeli military was an Islamic jihad training ground.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the military, said in a statement that the rocket attacks were “an intolerable act of aggression against Israel and its civilians,” and that “Hamas is held accountable for all acts of terrorism deriving from the Gaza Strip.”

Israel announced that the commercial cargo crossing between Israel and Gaza would be closed until further notice as a result of the rocket fire.

In another sign of Israeli-Palestinian tensions, suspected Jewish extremists slashed the tires of more than 20 cars overnight in Beit Hanina, a mostly Palestinian district of northern Jerusalem, in what appeared to be the latest in a series of nationalistic acts of vandalism that the perpetrators say are meant to avenge actions by Palestinians or moves against illegal settlement by the Israeli government.

The vandals spray-painted a Star of David on one of the cars and scrawled Hebrew graffiti saying that they would not remain silent in the face of Palestinian stone-throwing, according to the police.

Last week, vandals slashed the tires of 28 cars and sprayed anti-Arab graffiti on walls in Abu Ghosh, an Arab-Israeli village west of Jerusalem. The village, a popular destination for Israelis who frequent its restaurants, is known for its excellent relations with its Jewish neighbors.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders condemned the episode in Abu Ghosh. A police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said on Monday that the police were investigating whether there was any connection between the incidents. He said that no suspects had been arrested in either case.